Arthur:
It's interesting. Most of these arguments were and are used
against foreign ownership in Canada. With little effect.
Canadians voted with their pocketbooks as do most of those
in the US who reap short term savings at the longer term
cost of loss of community, both literally and
figuratively.
Karen:
> other points to consider ... as the Institute
for Self-Reliance and The Hometown
> Advantage (Stacy Mitchell) document ...
SS:
This is excellent stuff. And yet, Arthur is
completly right - people "vote" for these things
whenever they're made available. The only cases of
opposition I know of - such as the town of
Greenfield, Massachusetts - occur *before* the
fact when political leadership takes a stand, such
as a city council refusing a zoning or building
permit.
It occurs to me that in this as in so many things
there is not a proper ACCOUNTING. The reason
WalMart has low prices is because you're paying
for that propane barbecue everywhere else where
its cost is disguised (as Stacy & co. say, in
property taxes, etc.).
I'd like to see some creative accounting put out
that shows, say,
- the real "price" of a propane barbecue at
Wlamart
- the real "price" of a litre/gallon of gasoline
This would be, like, a progressive rebuttal to the
right-wing think tanks - like BC's Fraser
Institute - that have learned to garner publicity
with dishonest crap like TAX FREEDOM DAY (when to
much fanfare on the day they put out a
news-release explaining that "until today
everything you have earned has been taken by the
government; only today do you get to keep your own
earnings ..." I always want to say - OK you
buggers, have your tax freedom on 1 January and
we'll follow you around and BILL you whenever you
cost us money ... rise & shine! - flushing the
toilet - 3¢, brushing your teeth - 1¢, use of
sidewalk - 4¢, traffic light - 1¢ ... and so on.
My goodness those guys make me mad.
Has anyone done this proper kind of "social cost"
accounting?
THEN people would have a better idea of whether
they're saving money or whether the convenience is
worth it when they choose Home Depot.
Stephen Straker
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